Paix sur les Champs (Peace in the Fields) (1970)

Belgium’s Oscar entry, Paix sur les Champs, directed by Jacques Boigelet, is set around 1925. The protag of the fact-driven script, co-penned by Boigelet and Rene Wheeler, is Stanne, a wealthy Flemish farmer, who is aaccused of murdering his fiancée 20 years earlier.

Although the case against him was dismissed, a fierce resentment still burns between his family and that of Johanna, the victim’s mother.

Things get worse when the farmer’s son falls in love with the girl’s younger sister. Johanna forbids their marriage and her old enemy starts to feel again the pangs of conscience, and the need to confess the crime.

Oscar Nominations: 1

Best Foreign Language Film

Oscar Awards: None

Oscar Context:

The winner of the 1970 Best Foreign Language was Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, from Italy, in a context that included First Love from Switzerland, Hoa-Binh from France, and Bunuel’s Tristana from Spain.